Super Important Mission!
by coltostallion
Summary: After an elite of the Seigaku Kingdom defects to Rudolph, the relations between the countries are tense and on the brink of war. It is up to Seigaku's elite ninja force, with the help of Hyoutei's, to bring peace back to Seigaku. Shounenai, humor, AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You know the deal, don't own

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The wind shrieked through the rice-paper walls like a thousand demons as Syuusuke walked soundlessly down the corridor. The Fujin clan house was the largest in Seigaku village, as befit the most powerful of the four ninja clans, even the house of the leader of the village was smaller, though more elaborate.

No one bowed to the eldest son of the head of the Fujin clan, the members of the offshoot houses that stayed in the main clan house had ceased to acknowledge Syuusuke's presence after his father had gone into a rage at them. Few members of the lesser houses dared even speak to him. Things had not been easy since the second son of the family had disappeared.

Syuusuke shook his head; sad thoughts of his younger brother would get him no closer to finding him. There were rumors of course, there always were. Some possible, even probable and some so strange they were obviously not true. Sadly it was the latter ones that seemed to catch on and spread like wildfire.

"You're wanted."

Fuji turned to acknowledge the heir to one of the lesser branches of the Fujin clan.

"Saa, not by my esteemed father, surely," he smiled down at the younger boy.

"Tch, you would have a long way to go if you thought that," Ryoma smirked up at him. Fuji merely waited, still smiling; there was no rushing Ryoma, "Tezuka-sama wants to see you."

Fuji raised an eyebrow in surprise. To what did he owe such an unexpected honor?

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Tezuka sat, waiting. There wasn't much else to do but sit and wait- Ryoma was out as his errand boy and the grounds were totally silent but for the rustling of the trees in the wind. He kept his eyes fixed on the treeline on the horizon, waiting for movement.

Five minutes passed, then ten. There was nothing. Tezuka stretched one leg out, then the other.

"Ryoma should have been back by now," He murmured softly, eyes dark.

Something fell solidly on his shoulder and it took all of his self-control not to jump and yell. "Who says I wasn't back, buchou?"

Tezuka turned, slowly, as not to betray his racing heart and give Ryoma a reason to smirk. The boy stood casually; almost hard to tell apart from the inky tones of the evening due to the dark swathes of clothing he was wrapped in. Tezuka's eyes darted left and right- then up, just for good measure. Nothing. No sight of what he had sent for.

"Where is the Fujin boy?" He demanded, tone sharp. Man, if Ryoma thought that Tezuka wasn't full of business when he sent him on such an important mission he would kill the boy himself. The fate of Seigaku rested on this.

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"I am here, Tezuka-sama," Syuusuke detached from the shadows as if he were stepping from a portal. Only the best that Seigaku had to offer could even hope to trick the head of their village, but both Syuusuke and Ryoma were counted among the best.

"Good, I would be most disappointed if Ryoma had failed me," Tezuka's gaze said quite clearly what would have happened to the boy if he had failed, heir or not. Tezuka was not very old, Syuusuke believed he was around his own eighteen years, and Ryoma was only four years younger, but all of the best clans had an in training leader at the same time the new head was installed, it saved panic if the head were to die unexpectedly. Which happened quite frequently among many of the lesser clan, you had to be good to get close to the head of one of the greater clans, really good.

"Then there is no problem, Tezuka-sama," Fuji smiled. Ryoma was the only one allowed to call Tezuka 'buchou'. It was a privilege of being the next in line.

"That is where you are wrong, Syuusuke. Very wrong."

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Tezuka stood up from where he had been waiting and give his shoulders a roll, relaxing as much as he could in such... company. Syuusuke was staring at him expectantly, and Ryoma was staring at a... rock. "The kingdom is about to go into complete offensive measures." He stated calmly, gauging Syuusuke's reaction.

There was none. He kept smiling, and Tezuka tried not to get too annoyed.

"I don't understand," Syuusuke said in a very 'I might understand and I might not but ha, you don't know' way. "Would you care to explain what this has to do with me?"

"Yes." Tezuka motioned shortly at his encampment, a few sturdy buildings nested inside an ornamental gate. A few lights were on- his men, no doubt, preparing for any possible outcome of the situation, planning and strategizing. Tezuka liked to fool himself like that. Yes, his men were hard at work, industrious and noble and...

"Anyway." Tezuka began to walk. "I'll show you to my quarters."

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Ryoma did not follow the two older men, instead choosing to; apparently, devote himself to the detailed study of one of the rocks in the garden. Syuusuke knew better, of course, the men delegated to Ame-no-Koyane House, the house of the head of the clan, were supposed to be among the best, but no one could ever sacrifice the best to serve in dangerous times and thus the level of . . . expertise within Tezuka's person men had suffered greatly.

The room Tezuka led him too was sparsely, but efficiently, furnished. There was a small writing table with a cushion behind it for Tezuka and a nice patch of floor for Syuusuke, which suited the latter just fine, thank you.

Tezuka wasted no time once they were seated, "It is about your brother."

Syuusuke could have stayed perfectly emotionless through almost anything, but those five words nearly broke his perfect mask. As it was there was merely a lapse before he managed to pull himself together enough to respond.

"What about my brother?" the words were as emotionless as he could make them, contrasting the frantic beating of his heart.

"His . . . whereabouts have been discovered." Tezuka said slowly.

"You are avoiding telling me something, Tezuka-sama. Why?"

A lesser man would have fidgeted, but Tezuka would not be the head of a ninja village if he were a lesser man. "You will not like what I have to tell you, Syuusuke, but I need to be sure that you will follow all my commands in this, as in all things. I cannot have you outside of our laws, especially on this issue."

The honey-haired boy lowered his eyes. He had not thought Tezuka so perceptive, but perhaps he was a fool for underestimating one so highly esteemed.

"I understand, Tezuka-sama. I will obey you, in this and all things. My skills are yours to command." He murmured.

"Very good," Tezuka opened an ornate box that sat on the writing table, removing a scroll, "Here is what we know."

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Tezuka wasn't fooled- there was no way on Kami-sama's green earth that Syuusuke would really obey him- nor anyone- but it was nice to have him say so. Like a promise from a snake or something like that. Tezuka palmed the scroll thoughtfully, starting a bit when Syuusuke's voice broke the silence that had fallen.

"Quit playing games, Tezuka. Open it."

Ah, there it was. So different from the unconcerned, nonchalant Fuji of a few minutes ago- was Yuuta really that precious to the boy, to make him break his creepy-ass, smiles-and-sunshine shell? Tezuka almost felt jealous. He opened the scroll slowly.

"As you must know, your brother has been missing for over a month." Tezuka set the scroll on his knees and folded his hands. "He has been found."

Fuji's heart was on his sleeve, and Tezuka could see that it was seconds from breaking. He took pity on the boy and allowed his face to soften. Kinda. Hopefully it was comforting. "He's not dead," Tezuka delivered, watching Fuji's eyes open, blue and amazingly...blue. Tezuka looked away.

"But he's not safe, either."

Fuji didn't shut his eyes. It was making Tezuka feel a little ill, like Fuji was kicking the living daylights out of him with some kind of mind power, extracting the information. "What do you mean?"

Tezuka braced himself a little. This was not going to be pretty, but he had installed precautions just in case Fuji... lost himself. "Your brother has defected from the kingdom of Seigaku by his own will. He is now..."

"He. Is. Now. What." Fuji was suddenly very close and very large. Tezuka fingered a shuriken sewn in the lining of his sleeve, eyes slits.

"Your brother is now employed in Rudolph," Tezuka said stonily, "As royal bodyguard of the crown prince."

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There were no explosions, the world didn't stop turning, birds didn't fall from the sky and fish crawl from the sea, though by rights one or all of these things should have happened as far as the boy gripping Tezuka's desk so hard the wood had started to creak was concerned.

"What?" the single word was breathy, as if the speaker were having trouble getting enough air into his lungs to breathe, let alone speak.

"He is serving as a bodyguard to the crown prince of Rudolph," Tezuka repeated slowly.

Yuuta . . . left? Had wanted to leave? Had left his position as heir to the Fujin clan to be a bodyguard for some spoiled prince? Impossible! There was simply no way, he couldn't.

"He did, Syuusuke. I know this is a shock, but there is good news," the other boy hadn't realized he had been speaking aloud; his perfect mask was shattered on the floor.

"Good news?" Syuusuke was not one to linger in the depths of depression, and forcefully he began to pull himself away from the twisting black hole that seemed to have appeared in his stomach, pulling all of his consciousness towards it.

"Yes, we cannot allow him to stay where he is. It is simply too dangerous," Tezuka was speaking slowly, as if to the youngest of children when they first began their training in ninjutsu at the age of three.

"Dangerous? How?" normally he would have been able to figure it out, but his brain was still working overtime to pull his body from the icy grip of shock.

"He was next in line to the Fujin clan of Seigaku, he knows too many of our secrets to be allowed free. We have sent notice to the village where he did his study exchange, they will surely want to help us as he was privy to their secrets as well," Syuusuke's brain barely registered that he had heard Tezuka speak more in the past ten minutes, had it only been ten minutes? It felt so long ago, than he had in his entire life.

"What will happen to him when we bring him back?" the ice had thawed from his brain and the mask was being rebuilt.

Tezuka's golden eyes showed only a hint of sadness, but it was enough for the perceptive boy to notice, "I honestly don't know."

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"But as for now our kingdom is bereft of a prince," Tezuka said in a low tone, "And if your father finds out about Yuuta's situation, all hell shall break loose."

Syuusuke's face darkened. "War."

"War is something Seigaku cannot afford at this time," Tezuka urged, feeling all of a sudden very impatient. "Which is why only few know of this situation, yourself included. As well as... others. We must act."

Syuusuke frowned, not really listening. "How is it that you managed to get this information and not my father?"

Tezuka shrugged. "I had one of my men kill the messenger who was relaying this-" he picked up the scroll "-to your father."

Syuusuke stared at him. Then he smiled.

It was a good time to end the meeting, Tezuka decided. "I will give you tonight to think over this information. We- myself and a small team- will be traveling to Rudolph after the next evening. You would be a formidable asset, Syuusuke."

Syuusuke left without a word. Tezuka sighed in relief.

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The decree, if you could call a message delivered to select individuals in the dark of night that no one but those involved knew about a decree, went out that same night. Two members from each of the four noble houses were to gather in Ame-no-Koyane House before dawn. There they would meet the envoys sent from Hyoutei, the village where Yuuta had studied for his exchange period.

The sky had that pre-dawn sort of dark. Syuusuke had never been one to believe that it was darkest just before dawn, it simply didn't make sense to him, but seeing the sky as it was, he was almost swayed.

Each person arrived individually and silently, clothed in muted colors over the dark gray of their uniforms (Contrary to popular belief, black did not slide into the shadows half as well as a good gray did). Syuusuke inspected each person as they seemingly appeared from nowhere inside the dark room.

From the Fujin clan there was him, obviously, as well as Ryoma. Syuusuke had questioned the intelligence of having both the head of the village and his next-in-line on the same mission, but had not voiced his concerns aloud. Tezuka had to have some idea what he was doing.

From Ryujin clan there was Kikumaru and Kaidoh, from Kenrojijin, Oishi and Inui and Momo and Taka from Raijin. Not a one was not well known within Seigaku, Syuusuke found himself pleased with the selection despite himself. The only question was the envoys from Hyoutei.

Dawn had already begun to creep up the sides of the mountains and there was no sign of their comrades. The honey-haired boy stole a glance at Tezuka but the other man did not seem phased by the apparent lateness of their allies.

Tezuka must have known the envoys better than Syuusuke had suspected, for just as the first rays of the sun shimmered over the mountains a small group appeared before them, lit dramatically by the rising sun.

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Tezuka began to step forward upon sighting Hyoutei- they were an honorable group of people and should be greeted as such. Well, honorable as in they wouldn't stick a kunai in his neck or tape a 'ninja-chop me' sign on his back.

Tezuka frowned. Actually, he wouldn't put that last one past Atobe.

As Tezuka slowly made his stately way towards the slow-approaching group, a soft tug on his sleeve brought his attention elsewhere. Downwards-elsewhere. He blinked into a huge pair of hazel eyes staring up at him, the dim sunlight glinting off of them.

"Buchou. I am going with you."

Tezuka nodded, not really wanting to tell Ryoma no. If the kid wanted to go... the kid could go. A glance behind him informed him that the rest of his newly-arrived men were staying behind, watching their progress. Fuji waved at them, a true smart-ass. Tezuka wanted to tape a 'ninja-chop me' sign to his back, but had better manners than that. Plus, if Fuji found out he would stick a kunai in his neck. Or cereal.

Anyway.

So Tezuka and Ryoma trotted along towards the ever approaching silhouetted of what supposedly was Hyoutei, making enough progress that within two minutes the group stopped, just close enough for Tezuka to make out their features and details. They all appeared a little worse for the wear- a small red-head was sagging against a taller boy even, obviously lacking stamina. Tezuka suppressed a smirk. Seigaku ninjas had the stamina of... tigers. On speed.

A rich voice cough in a 'LOOK AT ME' way, so Tezuka did.

"Atobe," Tezuka said flatly. "Good to see you."

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Atobe was very disappointed in Gakuto for ruining his perfect entrance. They had left an hour early to be sure they had enough time to get to Seigaku before the sunrise, they had actually had to crouch behind the hill for close to thirty minutes waiting for the opportune moment, but it had all been worth it. Then Gakuto had to ruin it by trying to feel up Oshitari.

Of course he understood that everyone looked absolutely dashing in their uniforms, he had hired only the best designers after all, but did Gakuto need to be so blatant? A small voice in his subconscious suggested that the other boy could just be really tired, but surely that was ridiculous. Didn't everyone go to bed at 6 and get up at 2:30 precisely to be sure they were ready for a trip? The extra hour off had been tough but well worth it for their entrance.

The head of the village of Hyoutei flipped his hair in annoyance and turned to watch Tezuka and some younger boy coming toward them. His arrogant smirk turned to a slight frown when he saw Tezuka notice Gakuto, that was not what he wished to be emphasized. He cleared his throat discreetly.

"Atobe, good to see you." Of course it was. It was always wonderful to see him.

"So it is, Tezuka," he flipped his hair, arrogantly this time.

"Come, I will introduce you to my people, then we can get going," without another word Tezuka turned and moved back toward the small outer building where shadowy shapes waited.

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Tezuka turned his back on Hyoutei, a move of trust or something like that, and began to walk back towards his encampment, Ryoma in tow.

"Buchou," Ryoma murmured lowly, "Is that Hyoutei?"

Tezuka sighed. "Some of them. A part of Atobe's royal guard, at least."

"Oh." Ryoma paused, silent. Then, "Purple is a mada mada dane color. For a ninja."

Tezuka could not help but to agree full heartedly. What had Atobe been thinking when he outfitted his squad in purple silks? Honestly, of all the fabric in the world- never the matter. It was trivial. They were a minute away from his awaiting troupe, and Tezuka raised a hand, beckoning them over.

The two groups met at the 'point where Tezuka and Ryoma were standing' point at the exact same time, coming to a halt in a flurry of purple silk and grey cotton. There was an awkward silence. Both sides stared each other down, neither wanting to break the silence. It was as if-

"SUGOI! His head is shaped like an egg!"

Well, that was easy enough. Tezuka felt the corners of his lips rise slightly as Atobe twitched and turned to glare at one of his men, while his own man, Oishi, looked vaguely offended.

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Syuusuke could not help but smile, of course he had already been smiling so no one really noticed the difference when his real smile broke through the automatic mask one. The thin, orange-haired, which looked . . . unique against the purple silk of his uniform, ninja was jumping up and down, yanking a vaguely irritated looking gray haired man's arm and pointing to Oishi.

"Do you see, Kei-kun? Do you?"

Tezuka was trying very hard not to laugh, which added with the obviously injured pride of the gray-haired boy led him to the only possible conclusion, "You are Atobe-san I presume?"

The other boy turned to look at him, still ignoring the hyperactive boy on his arm.

"I am, and who are you who has the pleasure of addressing Ore-sama?" Ryoma almost died. It was Tezuka's turn to look vaguely embarrassed as his second barely stopped himself from falling to the ground, shaking with laughter.

"He is Fujin Syuusuke, it is his brother we are going to retrieve," Tezuka said quickly, as if he didn't trust the honey-haired boy to be nice.

"Ah," Atobe sniffed, turning his attention to Ryoma who was still catching his breath.

"This is Echizen Ryoma of the Fujin clan, my second, there is Oishi . . ." Fuji tuned him out and turned his attention to the group that Atobe had brought with him. They seemed far inferior to the ninjas of Seigaku, one small red-head was leaning against a taller blue-haired man as if he were tired . . . or groping him . . . where was his other hand?

"I have brought with me eight members of my guard, two from each house since you said you were doing such and it seems very chic for us both to follow such form," Ryoma almost lost again, but luckily Atobe's attention was turned away from him.

The tired/horny red-head was Gakuto from the Raijin Clan, the taller boy he leaned against Oshitari, a member of Hyoutei's Fujin Clan. The orange-haired jumpy boy was Jiroh from Raijin clan. The others were Ootori, another member of the Fujin Clan, Shishido and Hiyoshi from Ryujin Clan, and Kabaji and Taki from Kenrojijin Clan.

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...this. This was boring. And. And Kei-kun was mean, ignoring him like that. Jiroh yawned expansively, releasing Atobe's arm from his hold. Later on he would just have to ignore him back, the jerk. Jiroh wrinkled his nose and tried to suppress another yawn. Yawning wasn't a very ninja-like thing to do, and Atobe had told them all to try to appear as cool as possible to these Seigaku guys. Like he had something to prove or something. Psh.

After Atobe and Tezuka introduced their men, Jiroh expected them to disperse for a while, maybe rest up in Tezuka's house before they left for Rudolph. Jiroh seriously could've used a nap after all of that boring walking- he would even forget about ignoring Atobe if he could use the other boy for a pillow. But no, Tezuka drew Atobe aside and began to talk to him in hushed tones, leaving the two teams to shift around, staring at each other. Jiroh squinted at Tezuka and Atobe. They sure were leaning in close for just talking.

Yeah. He would be ignoring Atobe at all costs. Jerk.

Jiroh crossed his arms and 'hmphed', looking at the ground. But the ground was boring and thusly kinda made him sleepy, so he started to look for other things to look at.

...Like the Seigaku guy staring at him. Jiroh waved. The boy waved back, eyes closed and smile pleasant. Jiroh grinned. What a cool guy, waving back at him like that! Even though he had been staring... eh. "Hi!" Jiroh said in a hushed tone, despite the fact that no one was really listening. Everyone else was busy staring at the ground. Or... doing Oshitari-Gakuto things. "I'm Akutagawa Jiroh!"

The other boy stepped closer, eyes still closed. He kinda looked like a girl, which was cool, because some people said Jiroh was girly sometimes too. Even though he wasn't, not really. He just had bouncy hair and a small build. And long eyelashes.

"I'm Fujin Syuusuke," The other boy said, talking in the same hushed tone as Jiroh had. Jiroh was pretty sure he was doing it just to amuse Jiroh- and it worked. Jiroh lit up like a light bulb on crack. Cool! He had someone to talk to!

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Syuusuke smiled and listened to Jiroh, learning a little bit more about Hyoutei's . . . quirks with each sentence. Jiroh didn't know if Gakuto was tired or horny either, but he was betting that it was tired because he probably stayed up late last night with Oshitari, and of course Oshitari wasn't tired because he's a genius. He also learned that Jiroh was not supposed to refer to Kei-kun as Kei-kun in public, but rather was supposed to call him Atobe-sama or, if he was in a good mood, Atobe. Which led to quite the questions as to the relationship between the two.

"And then Gakuto did this super fantabulous back flip!" Syuusuke had not known that someone could talk for so long without a break, perhaps Hyoutei did have some secret techniques if they had a ninja who didn't need to breathe.

"Saa, how interesting, but it appears our leaders have finished their impromptu conference and are ready to head out, finally," he nodded towards where Tezuka and Atobe were walking back toward the group, Atobe looking a little more miffed than he had before.

"Is everyone ready to head out?" Tezuka addressed the group as a whole, so evidently the leader of the mission had been decided and it was not Atobe. Aw, poor little purple-clad flaming pansy. Hmmm, Syuusuke thought, it seems I am tad crabbier than I thought I was. _Don't worry, Syuusuke, picking on Atobe makes everyone feel better, it's not just you._ Saa, thank you authoress-chan. _Fuji, I think we need to talk about the fourth wall._ Saa, maybe later, right now we need to go and rescue my brother! So if you would be so kind as to write us on the beginning of our journey . . . _Fine, fine, but don't say I never did anything for you._

Everyone nodded and Jiroh turned away from the rising sun. "Let's go! We're heading west!"

"Um . . . actually, we need to go more to the north," Tezuka said, pointing.

"Oops, sorry," Jiroh smiled bashfully up at Syuusuke, rubbing the back of his head, the taller boy just smiled. He had no idea what was going on.

"Come on, do not make Ore-sama wait," Atobe huffed, still angry about not being in charge, and began walking.

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A/N: Sorry for the bad Saiyuki reference . . . it was a weird night.

P.S. Voodoodoll asked me to explain Syuusuke's surname. Ok, so here's the deal-e-o, I am a major geek and did a lot of careful planning as to the set up of the little ninja society thing. That spawned the four clans (they are actually by elements/Japanese gods –wince-) so I ended up with Fujin, Ryujin, Kenrojijin and Raijin. Well, I noticed Fujin had Fuji in it and that was the clan I wanted Fuji in anyway. So I figured, hey, lets make him part of the main house of that clan and just add a 'n' to the end of his surname. So that's why it's the way it is, sorry if it caused any confusion.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Guess who doesn't own it! Can you? Huh? Huh? Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?

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The trip was strangely uneventful for a few hours; the group having left off the second Seigaku had retrieved their supplies from Tezuka's houses. Jiroh was busy ignoring Atobe and was talking quietly next to Syuusuke, who would laugh lightly at times, oddly receiving to the mainly one-sided conversation.

Tezuka almost laughed when Atobe tripped on a rock, too busy glaring at Syuusuke when the pretty boy pulled at Jiroh's hand to help him up a steep hill they were climbing. But he didn't laugh, of course, because he was Tezuka and besides, Atobe looked like he was in a foul enough mood already. Tezuka almost called on Syuusuke to behave as to end Atobe's woe but then he would have a bored Syuusuke on his /own/ hands- and really, he wasn't doing anything wrong...

Just... being an awful flirt. Kind of. But the Jiroh kid looked happy enough.

"Atobe," Tezuka said lowly, sidling up to the brooding teen. "I feel that we should call a break soon. It has been six hours on little sleep, and my men look weary."

They did, too. Ryoma eyed Tezuka grimly, rubbing his stomach. A few feet back, the Momo guy did the same thing, only more pathetically.

"Buchou. I say we call a lunch break," Ryoma called flatly, sitting where he stood and opening his knapsack without an answer.

"Hey! Get anything good?" Momo crouched next to Tezuka's co-captain, practically salivating.

Tezuka could see that they would be friends if their eating habits were anything like their attitudes. He sighed. "Everyone! You may have an hour long break. Be ready to continue at my command."

Atobe looked at him sharply. "Or at mine."

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HOW DARE THAT FUJIN BOY! HOW DARE HE BE SO . . . SO . . . WARM WITH JIROH! Atobe paced in angry circles, concentrating on not frowning too obviously. AND JIROH WAS LETTING HIM! JIROH WAS PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO SOME GIRLY BOY THAN TO THE WONDERFUL PRESENCE THAT WAS HIM! The gray-haired boy turned abruptly and began to oversee everyone regally, so much more dignified than pacing.

Two boys from Seigaku were stuffing their faces on what had to be their rations for the entire week, it was a good thing Kabaji was carrying Atobe's personal food supply or he would have to go down there and stop the two gluttons; but as it was they were Tezuka's problem and if Tezuka wanted to starve his people, he could. Especially the Fujin boy.

Speaking of whom, Jiroh was jumping up and down as he enthusiastically explained something to the smiling girly boy. What could Jiroh be talking about so enthusiastically? Most likely some trivial thing, but what if he was divulging Hyoutei's secrets? It was Atobe's job as the head of Hyoutei to go over there and make sure Jiroh was not telling the other boy anything confidential. Denial is not just a river in Egypt, Atobe.

"I hope my comrade is not disturbing you," Atobe said haughtily as he walked close to the two.

"No, not at all," Fujin smiled, but Atobe's attention was not for him.

When he had gotten close, Jiroh had glared at him and then proceeded to ignore him. IGNORE HIM!

"Jiroh," Atobe said, slightly put off by the hyperactive boy's strange behavior.

Jiroh continued to ignore Atobe in favor of telling Fujin about a pile of mud he had found that looked like Atobe's head.

"Jiroh," He tried again.

Now it was a dung beetle that looked like Atobe.

"**Jiroh**."

"It was sooooooooooo gross, and it looked just like Atobe."

"JIROH!" Atobe prided himself with never having to yell to be obeyed, but he seemed to have broken his own rule and now everyone, from both villages, was staring at him.

"Oh, Atobe, I didn't see you big fat head there," Jiroh glared.

"What?" the primadona was quite taken aback by this. He did not, in any way, have a big fat head. What could the other boy possibly be thinking?

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"I said," Jiroh said through gritted teeth. "That I didn't see your fat head, Atobe-/sama/."

Atobe stared at him, mouth agape. Fuji patted Jiroh's shoulder, fingers grazing his neck. "I'm going to go check on our rations," The honey-haired boy murmured. "Let's walk together later, alright?"

Jiroh nodded, smiling warmly at Fuji as the boy walked away. Then it was just him and Atobe very suddenly, everyone else very far away. Well, not too far away, but the closest someone was a hundred feet away, and it was Kabaji, so it didn't matter.

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Atobe started lowly, eyes sharp. "But-"

Jiroh yawned. "But what? I... you ignored me earlier, so I ignored you. I think that's fair-"

"That's not even what I'm talking about!" Atobe said quickly, frowning. He would get wrinkles if he kept that face, Jiroh noted. He also noted that he had never seen Atobe so out of works out of something he did, if no one counted that time he fell asleep in Atobe's heated bath and almost drowned and Atobe had to give him CPR and cried, but Atobe made him promise never to tell anyone about that or /else/. Wow, Atobe had to be pretty stressed if he was letting a petty thing like this-

Oh. Stressed. He just might be stressed, leading a group of men out into a suicide mission for another country out of some stupid honor-debt made by their forefathers long ago. Jiroh felt very petty suddenly.

"I'm sorry," Jiroh said after a few seconds. It wasn't a fake 'sorry' either. "I just thought... I don't like it when you ignore me." His voice was really little, and Atobe looked kind of... distant for a second. Jiroh yawned loudly. "I'm going to go take a nap." With that, he started off towards a clump of comfy looking grass. Well, shit. If this was any predictor of how the mission was going to go... he quit.

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Gauze, antibiotic ointment, bandages, bee sting kit, calamine lotion, anti-histamine, non-

"Oishi . . . that is the fifth time you have gone through your bag."

Oishi blinked up at Tezuka, concentration lost, "I just get the feeling that I am missing something. What if I left behind something and we need it urgently later on!"

Tezuka blinked, "I am sure we are intuitive enough to survive in the wilderness."

"But what if someone gets mauled by a bear! Or is allergic to bees! Or or or or or or develops a rash! A RASH! I DIDN'T BRING . . . oh, never mind, here it is."

"I'm sure you have everything we could ever need," Tezuka reassured him, "I think I will go make sure Momo and Ryoma are not eating the entirety of our rations."

"DID I REMEMBER THE EMERGENCY RATIONS? Oh, yep, here they are."

It was a tough job being possibly the only trained medic within a group of ninja. Oishi had been trained since he was old enough to use a kunai how also to wield a scalpel with equal precision. The Seigaku Kenrojijin Clan was known for its line of well-trained healers and Oishi was not going to shame them in any way. Especially by forgetting some crucial part of his first-aide kit!

After going through said kit for the seventh time, he decided that if he didn't remember what he had left behind now, and he was sure there was something, he wasn't going to remember it until it was needed. He just had to hope that Tezuka was right and that they were all intuitive enough to survive on what they had.

"Momo, are you all right? Did you eat too much?" Tezuka asked, leaning over the two gorgers.

It was going to be quite the long journey.

----------------------------------------------------

The group continued walking until night, all of them having branched into separate cliques around midday. After lunch everyone had been more inclined to talk, it seemed, and so they walked more or less entertained by one another.

Or, in Kaidoh's case, being horribly annoyed by everyone in general.

For a group of the supposed 'best' ninja's of Seigaku and Hyoutei, they all seemed to be a bunch of undedicated slackers. An hour break for lunch that could have been better used to actually advance towards their goal, the traipsing pace they were keeping, the... the gossipy nature of the men...

It was embarrassing. They were ninjas, not women. Kaidoh hissed in a frustrated manner, pushing a branch out of his way as they made their way through a thin batch of vegetation. Really, if he were in control of the situation... he would... well, not do what they were doing.

A crackle noise off to his side alerted him to glance up- when did someone sneak up on him like that? Ugh. It was that weird glasses guy, the one who had been walking silently behind him all day, writing stuff on a scroll. How impractical. The guy shot him a smile. Kaidoh frowned at him and made a mental note to avoid the weirdo. Inui, was it? Inui the weirdo.

"We'll set up camp in another hour," Tezuka's voice rang clearly through the trees from up ahead, followed instantly by another command, this time from a ruffled-sounding Atobe. "Ore-sama will tell you all when we reach suitable ground."

Ah! While he had been distracted, the Inui guy had snuck closer to Kaidoh, making him jump. "You have been favoring your left ankle all day," He stated, motioning at Kaidoh's leg with his quill. "If you want, I can show you a few stretches, later."

Kaidoh shrugged his shoulders. "If you want." If you want you can go die, he wanted to say, but he was too respectful for that. He might have been a kickass ninja, but he was a polite one.

-------------------------------------------

Gakuto was mumbling something about twigs that hated him and how they must be possessed with caterpillars bent on world domination. Oshitari was trying not to smile at how adorable said story was and wondered if the evil caterpillar prince, who was obviously just lonely, would ever find an evil caterpillar princess to try for world domination with him. Gakuto would not have appreciated his insights.

The blue-haired genius turned his eyes up the path to where Atobe was trying to look like he was in charge without letting Tezuka see him looking like he was in charge, which was amusing.

All in all, he thought that Seigaku was living up to everyone's expectations simply by being slightly more mature than most of Hyoutei. Of course, they were two very different breeds of ninja, so perhaps they were not comparable, Atobe would have insisted it was so. Seigaku devoted itself to the more 'traditional' ninja arts. Slipping into shadows and sneaking undetected into locked buildings. Hyoutei worked on a more . . . noticeable approach. They were professional seductors and seductresses who could infiltrate any location with just their looks and their charm. Kinda made you wonder where Kabaji fit in. Oh well, don't ask don't tell.

"Yuushi," he turned his attention back to the red-head who was half-leaning on him.

"Gakuto," that one word, which would have sounded short from anyone else, was turned into a sensual experience by the trained arts of a Hyoutei ninja. And Oshitari. Mostly Oshitari. All Oshitari. Darn you Kansai-ben, darn you.

"When are we going to stop? I've seen at least five clearings that would have worked," Gakuto whined.

"I'm sure Tezuka and Atobe have a good reason for what they are doing, Gakuto," he purred, not on purpose, but it tended to happen when you could make a grocery list sound like porn.

Gakuto huffed against him, "It better be soon, my feet hurt."

"Of course, Gakuto."

---------------------------------------------------

Finally, finally Tezuka called it quits. "We will stop here," Were his exact words, actually, but either way it sounded like heaven to Gakuto. He threw himself onto the thick grass, stretching out against it. His muscles ached. He was not an endurance ninja, that was for damn sure.

"Comfy?" Gakuto cricked his eyes open to gaze up at Oshitari, who was looking at him in an amused manner. He grinned, flipping his hair back.

"I'd be comfier if you joined me," he teased not-so-subtly, making a nearby Ootori cough in an 'I hear no evil' manner. Psh. It wasn't like Gakuto was being serious, the prude. Kind of. Not like Oshitari could get it through his thick head anyway. Gakuto could throw hot, heavy innuendo at him all day and Oshitari would take it all in as teasing and play back twice as hard. All for the better, really, because Gakuto wouldn't know what to do with himself if it was for real.

Like now. "So naughty, Gakuto. Especially when everyone could see us." Oshitari unrolled his sleeping pad on the ground, smoothing it out with a large hand. Gakuto made no move to do so with his own. He was exhausted, and decided that sleeping on the grass wouldn't be so bad.

...yeah right. He groaned and made as if to get up, but his muscles said NO YOU LAY DOWN AND LIKE IT. He collapsed back onto the ground helplessly, a pile of human noodles.

-----------------------------------------

Oshitari and Gakuto were at it again. Couldn't they at least behave themselves in front of the esteemed ninjas of Seigaku? What if Seigaku thought that all Hyoutei ninjas were like them? Not that there was anything wrong with them! Oh no! In fact, Oshitari-san was called a genius by most of Hyoutei. Not that Mukahi was the problem. Mukahi-san was a fine ninja, he was just . . . immature at times.

"Choutaru, you look like your going to explode in a fiery ball of pureness, cut it out."

"Ah, Shishido-san . . . sorry, I was thinking," Ootori shook his head to rid himself of the remnants of his thoughts, "Shishido-san, your bedroll is all messy. Let me help you straighten it out."

"You don't need to do that, really. I will just mess it up sleeping on it," Shishido scratched his head while Ootori straightened out the messy sleeping roll until it could have been a picture in the Shinobi Supplies catalog.

"But it feels so nice to go to sleep on a nice bedroll," Ootori smiled at him as he stood, "Like you are sleeping in a nice clean bed back in Hyoutei almost."

"I'm afraid my imagination isn't quite that good, Choutaru, but I will take your word for it," Shishido shrugged, throwing his pack down next to the newly straightened bedroll and throwing himself after it, only on to the bedroll instead of next to it, because next to it would have been silly.

Ootori lay down on his own bedroll in a far more relaxed manner, "Good night, Shishido-san."

"Night, Choutaru."

---------------------------------------------

"Kei-kun. Hey. Hey."

Atobe looked pretty asleep, if the light snoring was any clue. But it was the middle of the night and some weird noise had woken Jiroh up and... and he his bedroll was right next to Atobe's anyway, no big deal if he scooted it even closer, right? Jiroh poked at Atobe again- usually if Atobe was awake he would just roll his eyes and lift his sheet to let Jiroh scoot in, but today he'd been prickly and Jiroh didn't want to just take that for granted.

With a sigh, Jiroh flumped back onto his bedroll. He was wide awake now, and of course everyone else was asleep. Which was an awful idea, since they should have had some kind of a guard, but... well; it wasn't like they were deep in the enemy territory. They weren't even outside of the Seigaku limits, so they should be safe-

"Akutagawa-kun."

A hand slapped over Jiroh's mouth was the only thing keeping him from yelping in surprise (as was the hand on his wrist the only thing keeping him from chucking a kunai at whoever was hovering over him). Jiroh's eyes widened as he recognized the smiling face of Fuji, and he couldn't help but smile at the strange boy as he released his hand from over his mouth.

"Fuji-kun! Why are you awake so late?" Jiroh spoke softly, as not to wake Atobe. He was pretty sure Atobe wouldn't like it if he woke up to find Jiroh consorting with Fuji for some reason. Eh, whatever. He was sleeping and Jiroh couldn't.

Fuji smiled and sat back on his heels. "I can't sleep either." Something about his smile was unhappy, though, in some way Jiroh could detect slightly. "I thought we could talk?"

Jiroh nodded enthusiastically. "Ah! Sure! Here, I'll make a little room for you." Unthinkingly, he scooted over; a mere foot from Atobe's sleeping form, to let Fuji sit on his bedroll. "What's on your mind?"

-----------------------------------------------

Atobe shifted, he could have sworn he heard Jiroh, so why wasn't there a warm presence in his bedroll? He blinked, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dark.

"Now I see it! That's the head and those are the feet, right?" Jiroh's voice whispered from behind him. He opened his mouth as he turned, prepared to ask Jiroh what he was talking about.

"Saa, that's right. The one next to that is the Seven Sisters, that little clump right there," Atobe's mouth shut closed as he saw the two shapes huddled close together on Jiroh's bedroll, his blanket flung across their shoulders, pointing at the sky.

"Oh I see, but why are they called the Seven Sisters?" Jiroh asked, leaning closer to Fujin.

"Well, there were seven sisters who were the companions of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, who didn't allow her servants to have relationships with men. However, one of the gods, Orion, began to pursue them. To protect them from Artemis' wrath at them being involved, even if it was just running away, with a man, Zeus transformed them," Fuji explained to the eager boy.

"First he turned them into seven doves, then into stars. The constellation Orion is said to pursue the Pleiades," Atobe put in, sitting up.

"Keigo!" Jiroh jumped.

"I'm glad to see the two of you are getting along so well," he said acidly.

"Jiroh could not sleep, neither could I, so I decided to show him some of the constellations," Fujin said innocently.

"I'm sure."

"Really, Keigo," Jiroh seemed desperate. Perhaps he was embarrassed at having been caught.

"You have no reason to explain yourself to me, Jiroh. I will be going back to sleep, I suggest you do the same," and with that he turned his back to the both of them and ignored as hard as he could.

-------------------------------------------

Jiroh sat shock still for a few moments, staring at his hands.

"Should I go?" Syuusuke asked quietly, sliding out from under the shared blanket. Jiroh nodded, dumbstruck.

"Yeah. Thanks for talking to me, Fujin-kun." He could hear Atobe's unsteady breathing behind him and his stomach twisted nauseatingly. He watched as Fuji crept back to his own bedroll, not a hundred or so feet away, and lay down. Jiroh stayed sitting up for a long while then, not really thinking. Things were changing between him and Atobe, and fast. Never had the boy been so... irrational. Ever. Atobe was always cool and collected, never snappy and mean.

"Atobe," Jiroh tried after a while, creeping on all fours towards the silent boy's prone form.

Silence.

Jiroh lifted a hesitant hand and placed it on Atobe's side, shaking slightly. "Why are you mad?"

-------------------------------------

Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.

"Atobe? Please, what's wrong?"

IGNORE. IGNORE. IGNORE.

"Keigo?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?!" he sat up quickly, fingers curled in the fabric of his blanket.

"That's what I said, what's wrong? I don't understand why you're being so . . . irrational, Kei-kun," Jiroh looked hurt, like a puppy who had just been put outside in the rain when all it wanted to do was play.

"Irrational? I have no idea why I'm being so 'irrational', maybe you should go ask Fujin, I'm sure he would know. He seems to know everything, doesn't he?" Atobe hissed.

"Keigo, what do you mean? I don't understand," Jiroh reached up a hand as if to pull lightly on his sleeve like he always did when he didn't understand something, but the other boy pulled his arm away.

"Why him? Whenever you can't sleep at home you come to me, why the sudden change?" he hissed, straining to stay quiet.

"I tried to wake you, really I did, but you wouldn't wake up!" Jiroh said desperately.

"You've never waited for me to wake up before," the anger was barely controlled, just beneath the surface. Atobe fought it; no one was quiet when they were angry.

"You were being so strange today, I . . ," he pulled lightly on his own sleeve, uncomfortable, "I didn't know if you would still want me to." The eyes that looked up into his were sparkling with unshed tears.

--------------------------------------

Atobe looked really dumb for a moment, like Jiroh had just hit him with a brick. Didn't... want him to?

Jiroh hid a sniffle behind a manly cough. "I can sleep by myself, Atobe. You're right."

Atobe blinked. "Right?"

Jiroh nodded, lying down stiffly. "I won't wait for you to wake up anymore. I won't wait for anything. I can just sleep by myself. I'm a grown man, right?" Well, a grown... teen, but still, he was a male and shouldn't be so freaking sensitive to Atobe's irrational... jealousy, or whatever it was. He could handle this by himself, even if he was about to cry and chances were that Atobe would hear him and feel righteous about it. Jerk. Stupid... jerk.

"Look, Jiroh," Atobe sounded apologetic and kind of scared, because now Jiroh was sniffling quite audibly and felt really dumb but at the same time really confused. He hadn't done anything, had he? Just because he had made friends with Fuji didn't mean Atobe had the right to get angry at him and... push him away, or whatever he was trying to do. Atobe made a noise as if to say something else, but didn't speak again.

Jiroh scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his fist back towards Atobe. Maybe he should just move his bedroll away, wait until morning for things to settle-

Without warning Jiroh was hauled backwards, onto Atobe's bedroll. "Ore-sama cannot sleep if you're... unhappy." Atobe said very quietly, as if he were nervous anyone could hear him say something so mushy. Jiroh hiccupped, body very straight. Then Atobe started to pet his hair, and his muscles relaxed slowly. Then the situation was going to have to wait for another time, because Jiroh fell asleep, warm and happy and confused.

It was needless to say that Atobe did not get his beauty sleep that night.

---------------------------------------------

The first rays of the sun found a very amused but so-not-looking-nope-no-way group of ninjas rolling up their bedrolls and attempting to eat around snickers, at least from the Seigaku ninjas, most of the Hyoutei ninjas knew better and were snickering in a silent way that they had had plenty of practice developing.

Atobe was also very practiced in appearing not to pay any attention to the snickering. In Hyoutei he hardly noticed it anymore, except for when something . . . unusual happened and even the well-trained Hyoutei ninjas couldn't hold in their amusement; like when Jiroh had drooled all over Atobe's chest one night. That had been amusing, at least according to Gakuto who had fallen on the ground in absolute fits. Oshitari had just smiled in his all-knowing and slightly pervy way.

"Not like he can expect no one to notice! Really! First night and they can't even stay in their own bedrolls," Gakuto was saying, his amusement not quite as well hidden as the others, mostly because he just didn't care.

Oshitari merely smiled and finished packing his bedroll back into his daypack.

"Which reminds me," Gakuto suddenly draped himself over Oshitari's shoulders, "Why didn't you crawl into my bed, Yuushi? It's a shame we let Atobe and Jiroh get to all the attention first."

"Ah, but no one would have been able to sleep if we started," Oshitari leered over his shoulder at the smaller boy, "What with how you scream."

Gakuto blushed and pulled back before the other boy could see, "Come on, Yuushi, we have to get breakfast before Shishido or there won't be any left."

"I HEARD THAT!"

"You'd have to be deaf not to!" Gakuto yelled back, using his daily argument with the other ninja as an excuse to leave Oshitari behind.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Tezuka had been awake for hours before the Hyoutei group started their hubbub, having long eaten his humble breakfast and washed himself in a nearby stream. Cleanliness, after all, was a huge part of being a ninja. What was the point of stealth if the enemy could smell you a mile away? Noting the position of the rising run, he decided it was high time everyone got ready.

That meant waking his own men, all of whom were fast asleep.

"Men. Wake up," Tezuka commanded- and lo and behold, to no avail. In fact, he was pretty sure he saw the Kikumaru Eiji boy pull his sheet over his face and flip him the- THIS WAS NOT TOLERABLE.

"SEIGAKU. EITHER YOU WAKE UP OR CARRY THE WHOLE GROUPS' SUPPLIES FOR TODAY'S TRIP."

Well, that got something. Tezuka watched, satisfied, as his men slowly lumbered to their feet in pathetic form for elite ninjas, complaining and groaning. He frowned as Ryoma disentangled himself from a still-slumbering Momo, who he had been using as a teddy bear- judging from his stony face and scarlet blush, on total accident.

Tezuka was not the blackmailing kind, but he stored that away anyway for future reference in case Ryoma decided to be super-bratty to him.

From across the camp Atobe was caught staring haughtily at Tezuka, who stared right back. Atobe smirked.

"Having trouble with your troupe, Tezuka?" He asked cattily, raising an eyebrow.

Tezuka made a point of staring pointedly at a large drool stain on Atobe's shoulder. Atobe got the hint and stalked off, snarking at Oshitari to fold stuff to get ready. Ha, take that. Bitch.

After a few minutes it appeared everyone was in working order- Tezuka walked around amongst the boys, eyeing them in a 'get ready NOW' way. They seemed to get the point, because everyone was packed up by the time the sun rose fully above the horizon, signaling the true beginning of the morning.

"I assume everyone is prepared to depart." Tezuka called over the commotion of the camp, drawing everyone's attention. Atobe gave him the stink-face, obviously feeling shafted out of a captain's 'shouting orders to do stuff' position. Tezuka nodded at the awaiting faces of his men. "We shall leave now, if everyone is ready."

Atobe huffed. "Ore-sama deems now a good time to set off."

Tezuka shrugged, a silent WHATEVER, and started to walk northwards, trusting everyone to follow

--------------------------------------------

"Tezuka Kunimitsu."

"Kikumaru Eiji."

"Echizen Ryoma."

"R . . . R . . . Whose name starts with an R?"

A universal shrug called a conclusion to the short lived game.

"I spy with my ninja eye . . . something . . ."

"It's all going to be green, brown, purple or gray," Ryoma shook his head as Momo tried to entertain the people nearest him, which, thanks to his choice of games, was now Ryoma and the crazy red-head ninja from Ryujin, Kikumaru.

"Well then, smarty pants, do _you_ have a suggestion?"

"Yeah, how about we move silently. We could pretend we're ninjas," Ryoma smirked. Momo blinked for a moment before the faulty switch in his brain flicked upward.

"HEY!" he grabbed the smaller boy in a headlock, "You think you're so funny, don't you, kiddo."

"Mada mada dane, Momo," he pulled easily from the headlock, he wasn't Tezuka's second for no reason after all, and easily kicked the taller boy's feet out from under him, leaving his sputtering leaves.

If he'd known Kikumaru wasn't paying attention he might not have done it, doubtful, but he might not have. Nah, he would have anyway.

Momo collided with the red-head (who if was a _good_ ninja _should_ have been able to avoid the falling boy) and they both ended up in a lump on the side of the path. From that point Ryoma was pretty sure Eiji was just being overdramatic as he fell off a not-too-big precipice. Mada mada dane.

---------------------------------

...For some reason Eiji was pretty sure Ryoma thought he was being overdramatic as he fell off a huge precipice.

It was totally unexpected- one moment he was just walking along, and the next- shit, he was falling, and falling far and fast and- his shoulder skimmed a passing rock jutting from the side of the cliff- hard, too. He couldn't even scream- all of his energy was directed into trying to find a handhold in the rock he was flying past- his hand caught hold of something- ah, shit, only a skinny little root, long dead and hardly holding up under his weight. His other hand scrabbled to find an alternative grasp as the root frayed under his grip-

And snapped.

A millisecond later Eiji hit the ground with a shout, back instantly arching in pain. At least he had not hit the ground with all of the force the initial fall would have created, but damn if he hadn't landed on a rock- right on his spine, too. He struggled to his feet, only to fell back onto the hard ground, eyes screwed up against a hot wave of tears. He had received far worse injuries in battle, this should be nothing- but it hurt too much to think anymore, so he resorted to calming his breathing, the taste of blood in his mouth strong.

Distantly, he heard voices calling after him. Then, a sudden jolt of touch, excruciating on his body, landed upon him, hoisting him up.

"Don't move," A gentle voice said while arms dragged him towards the warm, solid heat of a body. "I'm going to carry you back up, so bear with it." Then the voice raised, yelling upwards. "I've got him! He's bleeding, but... okay, I think."

He was bleeding? Huh.

Eiji rocked from painful consciousness to numbness as his body was jolted suddenly- whoever was carrying him was freaking leaping up the cliff, rock to rock. Not a good idea when carrying an injured guy, but hey, At least he wasn't dead.

-----------------------------------

The look on Ryoma's face said quite clearly that he thought that the boy Taka was carrying was both overdramatic and a wimp to be hurt from a fall of barely eight feet.

Oishi, of course, knew better. Think of all the things that could happen at eight feet! He could have broken his neck! Or landed on the rib of a long dead creature and punctured a lung . . . maybe . . . it would depend on how pointy the rib of a long dead creature was; even Oishi knew that from eight feet onto a very blunt rib would only bruise. Still! Too bad there was no special first aide kit for falls between 5 and 13 feet. Maybe he should make a special section for that . . . before 5 feet shouldn't need more than a band aid and some antiseptic, after 13 feet usually didn't need anything.

Taka put the boy on the ground next to where Oishi had dissected his daypack/first aide kit; Tezuka had made Momo carry all of the medic's sleeping gear after trying to help him decide which of his medical instruments he could leave at home . . . for three hours. After those three hours Momo had made the mistake of doing something stupid and there they were.

"He's unconscious," Ryoma looked like someone had just presented him with a child who had fainted from seeing blood.

"He might have hit his head," Oishi said, in total medic mode. Ryoma just shook his head and walked over to make fun of Momo.

There was a short gash, barely through the thick cotton of the uniform, on the red-head's right shoulder, some mild abrasions on the face and hands and a possible gash on the mid-back which would have to wait for him to treat the shoulder.

"Can I help at all, Oishi-san?" Taka asked, kneeling next to him.

"Sure, use some antiseptic to clean any scrapes on the face and hands, bandage those on the hands lightly," the medic told him automatically, pulling the edge of the gray yukata down enough to reveal the shoulder wound and opening a bottle of antiseptic.

The wound was ragged, most likely made from a rock during the fall rather than landing on something. It was a relatively quick job to clean it out and stitch it closed. By the time he was finished, Taka had finished his task and was ready to help Oishi pull the yukata down to waist level and turn the patient over.

The gash in the back was cleaner, more likely from the landing, but also deeper. The antiseptic had to be swabbed around inside the wound itself. Unfortunately, it was during this that Oishi's patient decided to regain consciousness. Antiseptic in an open wound can have that effect on some people.

Oishi finished the cleaning and stitching to the sound of the boy's whimpering while Taka held him down.

"There!" he tied and cut the thread, "Help him sit up so we can bandage him." Taka nodded.

The red-head sucked in air quickly as the two began to help him, transferring between holding his breath and breathing in quick, almost frantic, pants.

-------------------------------------------

"It hurts," Eiji stated the obvious is a hissing tone, face scrunched up in pain. Taka held up his arms as Oishi- so, that was the name of the egg-head man! He had forgotten...- wrapped his torso carefully, making him make subtle "OW! SHIT!" and "Owiiiiiiiieeeee" noises.

Eiji was kind of aware, through his pain that everyone else was just kind of standing there. Watching. In silence. Freakin' weird, they all were.

After a few pain-filled minutes, Oishi patted Eiji's torso, smiling warmly. Eiji wondered if he was going to get a lollipop, because Oishi was smiling in the way ninja-doctors did after they gave you your shot and candy to make it better. After a few awkward moments of staring blearily at Oishi, it was clear no candy was going to be produced.

"Are you okay now?" Oishi said softly, crouching and holding his hand to Eiji.

Eiji took it, feeling... still painful- but in a more fuzzy way. It could have been that the bandages were so tight they were cutting into his lungs and he was about to die or that this Oishi guy... had a really nice smile. Eiji made a 'mmph' sound as he was hoisted to his feet, cringing a bit as his wounds cried out in stinging pain.

Tezuka nodded at his red-headed underling, satisfied with Oishi's medical prowess. Awed, even. "Are you fit to continue?" He asked in a buchou-like manner- out of courtesy, of course, because if Eiji couldn't travel... he was screwed.

Eiji nodded, in the process of pulling his shirt back on. Tezuka caught Oishi staring. He frowned. That was the last thing he needed, inter-ninja dalliances. They were on a mission, dammit! Not a... naughty escapade! Tezuka was feeling rather frumpy, he decided. He turned around. "Okay. We will continue now," He announced stonily, his stern, handsome face challenging anyone else to fall off a cliff and make them lose another half an hour of progress. I dare you, bitches. I. Dare. You.

---------------------------------------

Oishi stayed close to his patient as they continued their trek. He noticed Tezuka's look, it was hard not to when it looked like he was shooting laser beams out of his eyes, but it wasn't his fault that a hurt person was immediately a thing that needed to be fixed and once it was fixed it reverted back to a person and that person just happened to have a really nice body. Not his fault at all.

That was not to say he didn't do his best to keep from looking. Of course, he was acting as a crutch for the boy so touching was almost as bad, but it was easy to keep your hands from wandering when you were holding someone up, eyes were a different matter. It was a good thing their uniforms were rather loose and conservative.

"I didn't catch your name before," he smiled, deciding that it was always in a patient's best interest to be distracted from their pain.

"Huh? Oh, Kikumaru Eiji," he returned Oishi's kind smile with a thousand watts of pure energy, which left Oishi momentarily stunned.

"My name is Oishi Syuichiroh," he said as his brain rebooted. Ok, bad news when someone can make you stupid merely by smiling. Focusing. Focusing was good. Think business.

"Are your wounds giving you any undue discomfort?" he asked, glancing down the other's form to see if there were any outer signs of pain. _Sure Oishi, is that what they are calling it now a days? I thought the term was 'checking him out'._ I AM NOT! _You and Atobe are just having a big old pool party in da Nile._ I am ignoring you and your lack of respect for the fourth wall. _Stiff._

"Nope! I feel much better. You are a very good doctor," Eiji grinned up at him. There went his higher brain functions . . . again . . . well crap.

-------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Ootori was making sure Shishido didn't fall down any cliffs himself.

"Oi, Ootori. You don't need to, you know," Shishido looked at the hand cemented to his shoulder in minute irritation, wrinkling his nose a bit. "I am a ninja, after all. I can handle a tumble." Not like he was going to go jump off a freaking cliff like that redhead, anyway. He actually had a brain cell. Or two.

Ootori smiled at him, and Shishido couldn't even keep his nose-wrinkled anymore because... damn. His friend was just too... nice to be annoyed at. And how were his teeth so white? And his hair so sparkly? And-

Damn! The hand had not left his shoulder. Damn Ootori and his tactics! Dirty fighting, that's what it was.

"What a nice day," the silver haired boy commented nicely, squeezing Shishido's shoulder. Shishido nodded. Hey, there was a bee by Atobe's head. Haha, maybe it would sting him. The bastard- served him right for wearing flowery cologne. What ninja wore cologne, anyway? Geez. Gaywad.

"Nice day," Shishido said after a while, frowning after discovering the bee had left. "Yeah." Shishido cricked his neck right, then left, absentmindedly trying to relieve some of the tension walking had built up. Ow. Ow. Crack. Ow.

----------------------------------------------------

It was nice just to be able to touch Shishido casually, even if keeping the other boy away from the cliffs was defiantly first priority. The feel of the other boy's muscles moving under his hand as he cricked his neck was strange yet pleasant, like he was touching more intimately than just a friend holding a shoulder.

Shishido was tense, and no matter how much I-am-a-nice-person-there-is-no-reason-to-fear-me-I-have-yummy-candy-so-get-into-my-car he projected there was no difference. It was highly depressing.

"You are so tense, Shishido-san," when all fails . . . MORE PHYSICAL CONTACT! The taller boy put his other hand on his friend's shoulders and began to rub in small circles.

"Stop it, Choutaru," the other boy rolled his shoulders as if to dislodge the rubbing hands, but made no move to actually pull away. Who doesn't enjoy a nice massage? Maybe if it was someone you were afraid would stab you in the back . . . but even the most homophobic of girls would let a girl who liked her give her a massage if it was good enough. Guys wouldn't. Male ego. Hmmm . . . maybe that was why Shishido was pulling away . . . but then again he was just a prima dona . . .

The silver-haired boy removed his hands, "Sorry, Shishido-san."

Shishido seemed a bit confused, all the other times he had been asked to stop Ootori had just continued in a you-like-it-and-you-know-it manner. But Shishido still wasn't having Gakuto's issue keeping his hands to himself so it was time for a change of tactics. Make him beg for it.

"Er, no problem," Shishido rubbed the back of his neck, a habit Ootori had figured out meant that he was confused and a little embarrassed. Perfect.

-----------------------------------------

...Well, crap. That massage had felt pretty good... Yeah, nice going, Shishido! He frowned, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck in thought. Maybe... well, it didn't seem as if Choutaru had really minded rubbing his neck, right? Wait- maybe he could do it himself. Shishido gave his shoulder a squeeze and almost twitched in hideously awful pain. Shit, pressure point! Pressure point!

"Ah, Choutaru," Shishido began meekly (which was saying a lot, because meek was not in his vocabulary. Neither was poor, humble, or ugly.) "You can, you know, I didn't mind..." He tried to make his point viciously clear by pointing at his neck. Look, this, you need to rub it. Get it? Got it? Good.

Ootori kept walking as if he had heard nothing. Behind them, Gakuto was laughing about something, a noise which generally pissed Shishido off. He needed a distraction! "Pleaserubmyneck," He said all at once, looking at the ground. Hey, awesome multitasking! Looking at the ground, talking, walking... he could pull of the three and a neck massage too.

For a few silent moments, Shishido's neck was very untouched and he felt crazily awkward. Here he was, offering his very neck up to Ootori to touch and he was being snubbed! By the nicest guy ever! Ootori didn't snub! Shishido's face darkened in displeasure and he began to walk faster, a bit humiliated and angry. Stupid Choutaru. Leaving him all high and dry. Jerk-

Shishido made a gasp-EEK noise as he was tugged back into a set of warm, large hands. They set to kneading his neck-shoulder-area at once, leaving him turned into a pile of...walking... goo. If they were attacked right now, he would be the first to go. Hands down. Walking goo was generally not dangerous.

"Thanks," He said appreciatively, face darkening more. From what? Uh. He didn't know. Maybe he was getting tan.

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The red-headed ninja Kikumaru was providing most unsatisfactory data. Perhaps he should mix a drink to help increase the boy's reaction time when they stopped for the night. Inui nodded to himself and made a note to do just that on the scroll he was carrying open.

He had almost complete data on most of the Seigaku ninjas. Tezuka still eluded him, and Fuji, he had about half of Ryoma's as well. He only had about 10 of his desired data on his new subject of study, one Kaidoh Kaoru of the Ryujin clan, 17 years of age. Lately Inui had taken to following the boy to see if he would do anything interesting. He had not been disappointed. The boy didn't do anything that screamed 'this is interesting, take note' rather he was quiet and actually quite irritable. He also seemed to detest Momoshiro, but then again, their clans had never quite been the best of friends. Maybe he was simply accentuating an old feud. He needed more data.

His subject was walking as far away from Momoshiro as possible, but the previous night he had had no qualms about sleeping close to the boy. Inui would have thought Kaidoh the 'I shall lay my bedroll over here, near the forest, so I do not have to be with you fools' type and had been proven drastically wrong. In fact, Kaidoh had slept so in the middle of the group he was practically on top of everyone. Such interesting new data.

The boy in question was also pointedly not looking at him, like he expected Inui to just go away if he ignored him. Ha. Inui did not 'go away' Inui melted into the bushes and watched you in your most personal of moments. No not like that you pervets. _Surrrrrrrre._ What? Who is that? _It is I, the great and powerful authoress, or one of them._ Really? Ii data. _It is._ Why do you doubt my moral goodness? _Because you have data on many things, do you not. _I do. _And you are saying you have never, ever, tried to gather data on . . . un-ninja related things? Hmmmm? _I do not know what you mean, but perhaps you could answer a question for me. _Huh? What?_ I would like to know some data on Tezuka. _Sorry, he's not my character. _. . . What? _He's not my character. He belongs to voodoodoll._ . . . Excuse me? _Noothing! Ja mata!_

Well that was an enlightening experience. He had either just spoken with god or been in close quarters with some minion of evil. _Nuh uh_.

"The trees are whispering in the forest, how romantic," the blue-haired ninja from Hyoutei suddenly said. Inui scribbled some notes on his scroll.

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Kaidoh walked in a very 'I am looking straight ahead, not at people, because people talk and I don't talk' way, perfectly aware that the weird... scroll guy was staring at him again. Okay, seriously, he wasn't going to freaking flip if he stared long enough. Okay, to be fair, he could, because ninjas could flip, but he wouldn't.

"You're very interesting," A deep voice commented lowly, almost RIGHT NEXT TO HIS EAR. AH! How did he do that?! Seriously, the second time, too!... well, there was that whole ninja technicality, of sneaking up on people and having nice, deep voices.

Kaidoh willed his arm hairs down- he hadn't been spooked by that. Nope. He took a deep breath, calming himself. "Please do not sneak up on me," He said politely, looking at the ground. He didn't want to look at the man next to him. He knew he was going to be looking weird and... creepy. Like he was undressing Kaidoh with his mind or something.

"I'm sorry," Inui said in a very unapologetic nature, still staring at Kaidoh.

Kaidoh decided to ignore him for a while. He did so succesfully for around two minutes, until the weird silence got to him. What was up with this guy? "Do you... want something from me?" He asked gruffly, pretty aggravated.

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Something was hissing. Oshitari looked around, oh it was the stuck-up crazy from Seigaku and the creepy scroll guy. He shrugged and turned his attention back to his walking companion, Gakuto.

"Trees are whispering

Ninjas walk through them qui'tly

Gakuto has a nice,"

"That's not a very good haiku if it stops in the middle of a sentence," Gakuto glared, "Had a nice what?"

"That is the complete haiku," Oshitari said simply, "There is no nice what."

"Are you looking at my butt," the red-head suddenly when into full leer mode.

"If you must know, its Gakuto has a nice friend," Oshitari smiled back in a way he knew would infuriate the other boy.

"A nice friend?" the shorter boy lifted an eyebrow.

"Of course, I am the best friend anyone could have," he smiled then changed it to a leer, "And even better in bed, ne?"

Gakuto gave him that you-are-so-not-serious look then turned to study the trees, "I'm better."

"Of course," the other boy said in that I-am-humoring-you voice that made Gakuto want to strangle him, "But you can't deny that I come in a very-" here he ran a finger up the red-head's back, "close-" a single hand lightly touching his neck pulled the shorter boy closer, so that "second." was breathed against his ear.

--------------------------------------

"SIZZLE SIZZLE SHISH-BANG."

Gakuto didn't say that. His brain did, however, leaving his mouth saying, "Yes. Yes." It wasn't a very intelligent response to Oshitari's... horrifically sexy teasing, but it would have to do. Especially since the taller boy was touching him. And using his voice. Who needs weapons with a voice like that, really? Gakuto's knees were noodles.

But somehow, he was still walking, braindead as he was.

And somehow, Oshitari was still running his finger places. Like his ear. And his neck. And other tingle-tingle-drool-drool places. Seriously, he needed to quit unless he wanted Gakuto climbing him like a monkey then and there, public or not. Well- he wouldn't, really. Since they weren't... like... that-

'Not like that' was such a loose term when Oshitari was slipping his finger up and down Gakuto's jaw... AH GOD NO BAD.

Gakuto did his best spazz he could attempt to gain some distance between himself and his too-gorgeous-for-his-own-good friend, flailing and shouting. Okay, by the way everyone was staring at him, overkill. Maybe.

Oshitari was gaping. Gaping in a 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' way. Had Gakuto hit him? Oops.

Gakuto laughed in a frighteningly high-pitched tone "Bee," he explained, flapping his hand.

Bee his ass. He was like, uber turned on. Bee's didn't do that!... sexy bees might. If Oshitari were a bee? NO. Gakuto stiffened his upper lip and started to walk, a good distance away from the confused Oshitari. Yeah, Yuushi, that's what you get. For making Gakuto feel... brain-gooshy. Gakuto felt strong in his lack-of logic- really, he was just confused by their interactions. Because it meant nothing. Right? Playful bantering. Right?

...He sighed. He would get wrinkles if he thought too hard about it. And he was just too pretty for that kind of exertion.

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A/N: I think everyone has realized, but I have no respect for the fourth wall. Voodoodoll hates it, so if you do too, you're not alone. –hearts-


	3. Chapter 3

Tuli-Susi: Oh don't worry, there will be pairings. Just wait!

ahgwa: I edited in a note about that in chapter one, sorry about any confusion

Gasenechi: The fourth wall is the unspoken barrier between the people in a story and the real world, basically if a person in a story knows they are in a story they are breaking the fourth wall, for more info see wikipedia

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Disclaimer: If we owned this, well for one thing the Nationals would make a LOT more sense

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Syuusuke surveyed the group of ninjas. They were not even two days away and one was limping and bloody, one was hissing at another, one was . . . giving another a neck massage, and one was obviously having hallucinations of bees. How could they lose?

The honey-haired boy slid up to his leader where the other boy was ignoring Atobe in a most obvious manner, no one else noticed of course.

"Can I help you, Syuusuke?" Atobe gave him a death glare over Tezuka's shoulder. Ooooookay.

"I'm not allowed to just want to be in the presence of my esteemed leader?" he asked, smiling.

Tezuka stared at him, then turned it to an almost glare, "No."

"Saa, why not?" Tezuka's eyes narrowed.

"Because that's not the way you are," he said simply, "What do you want?"

"What if I told you I was just nervous for my brother?" the best lies always had a little bit of truth in them, they said.

"Really? Doesn't seem like it," Atobe sneered at him. Ok, Atobe is a jealous snit who needed to get laid; maybe he should pass that on to Inui.

"Oh? Whatever do you mean, Atobe?" the gray-haired boy bristled at the lack of any polite suffixes.

"Absolutely nothing!" with that he turned and walked until he came to where Kabaji and Jiroh were, farther back in the line.

"Don't say I never did anything for you," Syuusuke smiled at his leader, whose only response was a deep frown.

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"You need to keep our diplomatic relations as polite as possible, Syuusuke," Tezuka said in a bristling tone, swiftly advancing forward- probably in hopes of leaving Syuusuke behind. It didn't work, of course, but it was worth a try. The boy was freaking annoying. He just wanted to walk in peace.

"I'd rather not," Syuusuke replied airily. "Aa... Tezuka- what about our 'diplomatic relations?"

Tezuka didn't like the tone in his voice. It was the kind of tone... that wasn't... something he liked, that was for sure, even if he couldn't really put his finger on why. "What do you mean?"

Syuusuke sidled up to him, smelling way to sweet and flowery to be a proper ninja- nothing that smelled like a pie could kill a man. "You. And. Me."

What the hell? Tezuka scooted away from Syuusuke- this guy was going to get some laps- laps around what, he wasn't sure, but some base instinct told him to give him laps. "There is no you and me. In conjunction." There. Now go away, strange Fujiko creature. Bug Atobe. Wait. Don't. Bug... Momo. He was too loud for his own good.

Syuusuke caught up to Tezuka, who had upped his pace exponentially. "Can I sleep by you tonight?" He asked in what only could be described as a flirtatious manner, sidling up to Tezuka again, all smiles and pie-smell.

Tezuka sighed. "Listen, Syuusuke-" He frowned. "We are going to take a break."

Syuusuke's smile brightened-

"And you. Will run twenty laps."

Syuusuke stared at Tezuka as he commanded the men to a halt. Then he began to run.

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Oshitari stared thoughtfully at Gakuto's back. The other boy was acting so strangely. He cocked his head in a charming manner and laid a finger on his chin. What on earth could have the red-head acting like a young ninja- THAT WAS IT! GENIUS! Oshitari nodded to himself complimentingly, they didn't call him a tensai for nothing. He would just have to make sure to get Gakuto alone the next time they stopped and put his tensai skills to work.

The 'next time they stopped' happened to be sooner than he had expected. He watched patiently as everyone settled down for the break, except for Fujin Syuusuke, who was devotedly working on his stamina. Perhaps he should do the same . . . no no; he had to talk to Gakuto.

"Gakuto," he purred, he couldn't help it really, it just sort of . . . happened. You know, eat, sleep, laugh, purr. Gakuto stiffened, keeping his back carefully to the other boy as he took a drought from his water bottle. Oshitari patiently repeated himself.

"Uh?" was the only response he got, but that was not entirely unusual for Gakuto when he was in a snit.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" the red-head waited, obviously expecting him to just talk, "In private?" The small, lithe body filled up with more tension than it should be able to hold. With a soothing hand, the blue-haired boy helped his shorter friend up and led him a short way into the woods, where they were relatively alone.

"What is it, Yuushi?" Gakuto said, irritated.

Oshitari smiled in a comforting manner, laying a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Gakuto, I have been thinking about you recent behavior," the shoulder stiffened beneath his hand, he rubbed gently, "And I finally realized what you are feeling." A look of mixed shock and fear crossed the other boy's face. Oshitari was slightly disappointed; didn't the other know that he could tell him anything?

"You do?" there was a slight hint of hope mixed in with the overwhelming majority of fear and shock now.

"Of course! I felt the same way!" Oshitari smiled.

"Felt?"

"Of course, after the first couple of missions you just forget about it entirely," he said, waving a hand in a manner that was supposed to show the fear melting away.

"Forget?" the red-head's face seemed paler, Oshitari rushed to comfort him.

"Everyone is nervous about their first long distance mission, Gakuto; you're not the only one, not even remotely! In fact-" suddenly Gakuto's pale face was flushed and he was scowling. Whatever was going on?

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"You're stupid," Gakuto hissed. "You're really, really stupid, Yuushi."

Gakuto felt a little satisfied at the way Oshitari proceeded to look at him. Like, his expression embodied the expression, 'Duuuuur' to a tee. Without another word, Gakuto spun on his heel and proceeded to march out of the stupid woods, leaving stupid Yuushi behind looking... stupid. Well, he started to march out of the woods, except Yuushi grabbed him midstep and turned him right back around.

"I," Oshitari opened his mouth, then closed it. His brow furrowed, eyes thinking and serious and dammit, gorgeous. He squeezed Gakuto's thin shoulder, as if looking for something to say. "Well, Gakuto. I'm not stupid. I was just trying to help."

Wrong. Thing. To. Say.

"Get off of me!" Gakuto fairly exploded as much as his little body would allow, flinging Yuushi's hand from his shoulder and putting a good few feet between them. "How do you think this is helping? You think I have some first-time jitters or something?"

Oshitari grinned in a perverted manner, apparently lost to the /horrible/ seriousness of the conversation. First time jitters. Eh he he.

Gakuto continued, a little piece of hair getting stuck in his mouth as he ranted. "You're so freaking oblivious, Yuushi- that or you're just toying with me, with your dumb insinuations and flirtations and-"

Wow, Gakuto was adorable when he was mad. Oshitari reached out and pulled the little piece of hair from Gakuto's mouth. The smaller boy stared at him, a frozen picture of confusion and bitchiness and cuteness rolled into one package. Oshitari shrugged. "By all means, what was this about? If not homesickness, then what?"

"It's you, Yuushi," Gakuto said in a 'maybe if I say it in a monotone he won't really hear' voice. He turned to walk away again, and this time wasn't stopped. He scrunched his face up, a weird pit of disappointment welling in his stomach. God, was Yuushi that dense? All that flirting and he thought Gakuto was nervous? Because of the mission? Was he freaking stringing him along for his own amusement or what? No one was that naive.

Dumb jerk.

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Syuusuke finished his laps just as Tezuka ordered everyone to get moving. Figured. He quickly grabbed his pack from where he had laid it before starting his laps and joined the procession once more.

They were making decent time, even with the rest delays which seemed far more often than they must be. Even so, the kingdom of Rudolph was quite a distance away. How his bro- Syuusuke ripped his mind from that train of thought and focused once more on the ninjas around him. The short red-headed ninja seemed to be highly unhappy for some reason. The blue-haired one was watching the former with a quizzical expression. Maybe he should give them some of his recently patented therapy technique, Mental and Emotional Drama Deterring Life Instruction and Needed Guidance, MEDDLING for short. He made a mental note and tucked it into the back of his mind as his attention, inevitably, turned to Tezuka.

The head of Seigaku walked at the front with Atobe, who was determined to hold on to the nonexistent vestiges of his command position. Tezuka looked straight ahead, sparing no attention for the men who followed behind them, confident that they would be there if and when he needed them. It was that sure confidence that had drawn Syuusuke to the other boy, especially amidst the confusion in Fujin house and his own recent disownment. Tezuka had been very helpful when he heard the news, talking to Syuusuke's father personally to at least allow him to remain within the clan house rather than exiling him. The honey-haired boy was more grateful than he would ever let anyone know, even more so because of all the effort Tezuka was putting into this mission. Yes it was for the sake of Seigaku and Hyoutei's ninja secrets, but the side effect of that was more than enough to forgive that his brother's return was not the main priority of the mission, or at least more than being a means to an end.

Syuusuke had been carefully maneuvering himself to Tezuka's side. Each move was planned carefully; even the other boy's reactions were twisted and melded into form under the tensai's skillful hands. Tezuka may be irritated or even angry with him, but he was still slowly spiraling into the other boy's carefully laid trap.

Not that he intended Tezuka any harm, of course. He merely wanted to thank the other boy for his aide and guidance. No matter what Syuusuke might say, he knew as well as any other Seigaku ninja that there was no one else to head Seigaku but Tezuka. Ryoma may eventually prove worthy, but only because he seemed a miniature copy of the head himself. For now, though, there was only Tezuka and Syuusuke was determined to be of service to him.

-----------------------------

They had been traveling for about an hour into the midday when they crossed into uncharted territory- Tezuka felt a twinge of uncertainty hit him when he noticed the subtle shift in atmosphere, the change in the way the shadows fell from the trees and the way the air seemed to hold... danger, almost tangible. Like something was waiting for them to let their guard down.

Truly, if that was the case, Tezuka really didn't know what they were waiting for. The very idea of 'guard' in this group was ridiculous. He flinched as his very own underling, Ryoma, threw a ninja star back and forth with Momo, laughing and giggling and having a grand old time. Seriously, Ryoma, he thought bitterly. You used to be mature.

As a bit more time wore on and the playing stopped, Tezuka could feel the weariness setting in among the men- Atobe had stopped preening, for gods' sakes. That had to be a sign of something. He noted to have them settle in in an hour, and to make camp especially tight- they were in unfamiliar lands, now. No chances to take.

"You seem tense," A soft voice noted from behind him, making the knot in Tezuka's brow only gather in further. Fuji had been following him all day- not like a puppy who follows his master, but more like a cat following his prey and licking his chops, waiting and patient.

"I am not." Tezuka replied, hiking his supplies into a more comfortable position on his shoulder, not bothering to look at the boy who had caught up to his steps. He opened his mouth- then closed it. Fuji was watching him, and it was making him stumble in his thoughts- it annoyed him. He continued as if he had not faltered, voice monotone. "It's time we adopt a more professional attitude."

"I agree," Fuji said smoothly. "At least four different men have been trailing us since we have left Seigaku. Well. Six, if you count the two I encountered in my... laps."

"I suppose there's nothing left of them to count for," Tezuka said shortly, absorbing this information. He had only counted three. Perhaps Fuji did have his uses. "We will be reaching Fudomine territory in approximately seven days. We should set up a watch from now on."

Fuji nodded.

Tezuka's mouth felt dry, all of a sudden. Why was he telling the other boy these things? He didn't need to know them. He didn't ask, he didn't press- Tezuka had just told him, as if it were natural. It felt as natural as thought, almost-

Tezuka cleared his throat. This was a distraction, one he did not need if he were to save his kingdom. Fuji should have known better- he was endangering the very mission he had so wanted, to preserve the safety of his precious brother. "It's time to set up camp," Tezuka called, raising a hand for silence. It was given to him. "We will need two men every two hours for watch. You may unpack."

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Atobe didn't understand what he was feeling, but it was putting tension lines between his delicate brows and making his neck itch with tension. Or maybe it had gotten fleas from Jiroh who had gotten them from Fuji who had gotten them from Ryoma who had gotten them from Momo! There was no way Atobe had less 3 degrees between him and a being who had a flea colony. But Jiroh wasn't complaining so it must be something else.

He didn't even bother to argue when Tezuka called for a stop, the itching had intensified and he was doing his best to keep from glancing around to seek its source. He did suddenly give the boy his full attention when he called for there to be guards.

"Why do you suddenly feel the need for guards, ahh Tezuka?" he said, sliding up to the other boy as he was observing the set-up of the campsite.

"We have left Seigaku territory," the other boy said shortly. Atobe blinked. Just today? How did the other boy know? He didn't mention this; of course, it wouldn't do to be thought of as in awe of the other boy. Especially when Hyoutei's territory was far more vast. At least, he thought it was. After all, they were Hyoutei; they had to be better than anything else out there.

He frowned and turned from the other boy to dictate to Kabaji exactly where his sleeping gear should be set up.

"Keigo," Jiroh yawned near his elbow.

"What do you wish of _Ore-sama_, Jiroh," he subtly tried to remind the boy that they were in public, and in public he was, at the very least, Atobe-sama.

"Tezuka told me I'm not allowed to do guard duty, 'Tobe," hardly better than Keigo, but almost, "How come I can't? Is guard duty fun?"

As much as it hurt his pride to agree with Tezuka, the other boy had a point.

"You are not allowed because Ore-sama would not allow him to use you. You listen to orders from Ore-sama only, and no one else," he said, waving Kabaji off as he finished Atobe's sleeping preparations.

"Oh, ok," Jiroh yawned again, "Can I sleep with you again, 'Tobe?"

"Of course," after all, they were all in tents tonight, so no one would notice.

--------------------------------

Jiroh was not a light sleeper- not by any account. Once he was out he was out, especially if he fell asleep on something comfortable. Like Atobe. Atobe was really comfortable, especially when he was all 'ore-sama does not mind cuddling'. Which he was tonight, but that didn't matter, because Jiroh couldn't sleep long enough to enjoy his Atobe shaped body pillow.

It must have been the tent.

The second time Jiroh woke up- the second!- he just couldn't get back to sleep. The tent was suffocating- the material was somehow holding in the moisture and making things clammy and he was hot and cold at the same time. It was totally icky, not to mention his hair was frizzing like crazy.

Atobe snored and kicked him in the shin, mumbling under his breath. Jiroh sighed and flumped his head back onto his captain's shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut. Maybe if he counted sheep-

Then he heard it. He paused in the middle of sheep number twenty one, eyes widening and heart stopping.

There it was again. The unmistakable noise of metal being unsheathed, the scraping noise of unrefined steel being drawn. Jiroh sat up, quick and silent, reflexes on the ready. There! There it was, a shadow- right outside their tent, a crouching figure-

And then it moved, faster than Jiroh could. A single, silent movement sliced into the side of the tent, and no sooner than Jiroh could yell then the figure was in the tent, weapon flashing-

And Atobe was waking up-

Jiroh didn't even feel himself moving- he shot forward with a yell, knocking the invader into the side of the tent, careening into the night with nothing to protect him but his own hands. His hands shot out and met steel- the next few seconds were spent in an intense grapple over the sword the man was bearing- it was pretty useless in such close quarters, but still, disarm the enemy was priority one.

Jiroh gained a little momentum as he pushed off of the ground, forcing his opponent backwards. The hold on the sword weakened- Jiroh pulled it to himself, then, without pause, pushed it back outwards, point out. He stayed like that for a few moments, barely aware of the blood pouring onto the hilt and onto his hands. Adrenaline pumped heavy through his body, making him pleasantly numb. Well. That had been fast.

"-iroh! Jiroh!"

Who was shaking him?

"Oh. Keigo, stop shaking me," Jiroh said dazedly, sitting back on his heels. Ootori- where had he come from?- pulled the body back, inspecting it. Jiroh turned his gaze back to Atobe, who was staring at him intensely, if not in a rather panicked fashion.

"Are you okay?" Atobe sounded so concerned, which would usually make Jiroh melt like butter. But he couldn't really respond... he just slumped in Atobe's hold, staring.

"Is he injured?" A voice- Tezuka- questioned from the darkness, beyond Jiroh's range of vision. He curled his legs up, wiping his hands on the grass. They were sticky. Gross.

Atobe looked at Jiroh in a worried manner, one hand rubbing his back in an unconscious way, as if reassuring himself that hey! Jiroh wasn't skewered in a surprise attack. "He's fine, Tezuka. My men are perfectly suited to handle the attacks your guard missed."

----------------------------------------

They were trying to keep the noise to a low roar; unfortunately ninjas were trained to have sharp hearing, which meant despite their best efforts everyone was awake.

Oishi had threatened to allow Inui to create juices for them all if they didn't move away, after the run-in poor Eiji had had with one of the other boy's concoctions it was a very good threat, he noticed Eiji shivering near the trees on the far side of camp, as far away as he could get from Oishi's threat. Maybe he should make him some Chamomile tea when this was over to make up for the damage he was surely doing to the other boy's nerves. But for now he had more needy patients to worry about.

"Why is he so pale?" Syuusuke was asking Atobe, Oishi had started to threaten him with juices but stopped when the other boy gave him a look half between "I'd enjoy that very much" and "I'll rip out your esophagus and eat it if you try".

"How should I know?!" Atobe shrilled.

"Hands are sticky," Jiroh murmured from where he was cradled in Atobe's lap.

Oishi kneeled down, instructing Jiroh through the basic patient assessment procedure, making mental notes on all the reactions he received.

"If I didn't know better, I would say he was going into shock," Oishi frowned as he stood again.

"Know better?" Atobe blinked up at him, it was almost sad how the cover of arrogance had dropped.

"He's a ninja," Oishi shrugged, "Ninjas don't go into shock from killing someone."

"I did what?" Jiroh's voice held the edge of panic; Atobe wrapped his arms more firmly around the curly-haired boy.

"Atobe," all attention turned to Syuusuke, "Did you bring an untried ninja on a mission of this import?" The words were Tezuka's but Tezuka couldn't say them lest he start a problem with their allies, Syuusuke had no such compunctions.

--------------------------------

Tezuka felt a small shred of sympathy for Atobe- the man looked pretty shocked himself, as if- had he not thought that they would have been required to kill? Had he so overestimated his own men that this episode was surprising to him?

Or maybe... maybe he hadn't been thinking like that at all. Atobe, Tezuka knew first-handedly, was selfish- selfish enough to perhaps endanger the mission by bringing a weak ninja with him? Weak enough to bring some boy along just because... just because they had some connection?

Tezuka sucked in a breath. No. Atobe was smart, even if he was pompous and peacock-headed. Death wasn't easy to deal with- he was being overly judgmental to proclaim someone weak just for being sensitive to the fact. He turned to Syuusuke, who was eyeing Atobe and Jiroh with a somewhat cold interest- wasn't it Syuusuke who was just talking to Jiroh not a day ago like they were best friends? Now it was Syuusuke who was eyeing him with such distaste-

Tezuka cleared his thoughts. Syuusuke was on his mind far too often- he must concentrate on the safety of the mission.

"Oishi." The concerned man looked up at his bidding, nodding once. Tezuka nodded back. "Make sure Jiroh is free of injury. I will take guard. Everyone else-" Tezuka looked at all the expectant faces looking at him, awaiting orders. All except Syuusuke, who was frowning at him, eyes open and hard. Tezuka stared him down, not taking his eyes away with his next words. "You may go to bed. Tomorrow we will send scouts ahead to make sure there are no enemy camps in our way."

Slowly, everyone dispersed, leaving Oishi checking over Jiroh, who seemed to be dozing on Atobe. Well. He got over trauma quickly.

Tezuka made his way back to his tent; scouting about to make sure everyone was getting their rest. When all was quiet, he returned to his tent to retrieve his sword, ready to begin his watch.

"I can watch with you," It was Syuusuke, crouching besides Tezuka with the oddest look on his face- almost angry, but pleasant and cold at the same time. Tezuka stood up, attaching his scabbard to his waist.

"I don't require your help," He informed the smaller man calmly, turning his back on him. "Get some rest."

Syuusuke was gone when he turned back around, but Tezuka was pretty sure he wasn't back in his tent to sleep like a good ninja.

He was going to be hard to deal with. Obviously.

-----------------------------------------

Trees formed a road for any skilled ninja to walk; Syuusuke paused for a moment in his aerial rounds around the camp to peer down at the shredded tent.

Atobe and Jiroh had moved into Jiroh's tent, which he was supposed to be sharing with Gakuto. Gakuto had refused to move into Oshitari's tent when offered and was now bunking with Kabaji and Taki.

There had to be something he was missing. As much as he liked to irritate Atobe, he knew the other boy was not stupid, and neither way Jiroh.

Jiroh brought up a whole new wave of questions. A ninja his age should have been through a number of missions, and killing was almost impossible to avoid in most missions, and the other minority it _was_ impossible to avoid because that was the entire purpose of the mission. What did they _do_ in Hyoutei?

The honey-haired boy shook his head. This was a serious mission, one of great import to both villages, why would Atobe endanger everyone for one boy?

With a sigh, Syuusuke resumed his patrol.

And who had attacked them? The two he'd taken care of hadn't had any insignia or identifying quality to them. In fact, they had been as nondescript as anyone he had ever seen. Whoever was sending them expected a few to be picked off and examined.

Could it be Rudolph? He frowned. They had been careful to give no hint that they even knew of Yuuta's whereabouts, how would Rudolph know where and when to send assassins? Besides, these were trained ninja, something that Rudolph was utterly devoid of. Well, except for Yuuta.

An increase in the pace of patrol made him concentrate on ever branch beneath his feet instead of the thoughts that spun through his head.

As the first rays of sunlight began to lighten the very edge of the horizon, Syuusuke slipped silently and unseen into his tent. Luckily the tents were divided by clan, which meant he was with Ryoma. The boy slept far later than a ninja heir had any right too, but it meant he wouldn't notice the other boy coming in just before dawn.

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Gakuto couldn't sleep.

It wasn't that he was nervous or anything- ninjas should be used to danger and should accomodate themselves to deal with any outside pressure. He could be a light sleeper if he had to be, but this wasn't the case. It wasn't even that Kabaji was snoring fit to start a freaking earthquake. He could always shove a pillow over his head. Or choke Kabaji with a sock.

No, it was definitely more like Yuushi was just one tent away. Dumb jerk. He had a whole tent to himself to spread across- Gakuto was nudged up pretty tight against Taki, who really didn't seem to mind. Not by the way he had insinuated a hand on Gakuto's chest, a hand that kept returning no matter how many times Gakuto pinched it. Or smacked it. What would Taki do if he woke up bald the next morning? Eh?

But anyway. Yuushi. How could one guy be so dumb, anyway?

Gr.

After about thirty minutes of laying around, mind ceaselessly rambling on the vein of "Yuushi this, Yuushi that", Gakuto sat up. Obviously he wasn't going to get any rest tonight- it was almost dawn anyway- well, okay, it was still a few good hours until the sun was to rise, but still. He couldn't stand laying around, getting felt up by Taki and thinking fruitlessly about some dumb bastard.

Gakuto crawled out of the tent, frowning at the wet grass beneath him and the cold air biting at his skin. Ugh. At least the tent was warm and dry. He glanced around, seeing no one- not that that meant anything, considering that they were all ninja and prone to being stealthy.

Gakuto sat on his heels for a while, at a lost of what to do. His plan of action had pretty much been "get out of the tent"- damn it, why was he such a short term thinker! He chewed on his lip. He could...walk around. Yeah, he could patrol! That was useful and thought-consuming! Without any more thought (since he wasn't good at it, really), he set off, throwing a dirty look at Yuushi's little tent.

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With a soft sigh, Oshitari sat up. He had tossed and turned to no avail until the sun had begun to turn pink on the horizon. What had he done to upset Gakuto so? Come on, tensai, use your brains.

The blue-haired boy rubbed his temples. There had to be something he was missing, some subtle signal that the red-head had been giving off without him realizing.

"You're just toying with me," he murmured Gakuto's words from the previous day. Toying with him? How was he toying with him! He didn't DO anything! Suddenly his tensai skills finally realized they were slacking and sent him a memo.

"No, that's not it . . . what else did he say . . . " Oshitari frowned. His genius had forgotten to add the attached message evidently, and it would take forever to get a response back. That was a problem with the memo system, going from superior to inferior was simple and quick, going the other direction was anything but. He left a note with his Genius' secretary, Chastity, it didn't get used anyway so Genius had given it a job, and turned his conciousness back to what he was trying to remember.

What was it . . . what was it . . .

"_You're just toying with me, with your dumb insinuations and flirtations and-" _THAT WAS IT!

He made sure to have Chastity cancel his appointment before he turned back to his problem, if he didn't it would call him every day to remind him and he hated dealing with Chastity, they were just not compatible people.

Insinuations and flirtations. Insinuations and flirtations. Hmmm. He hadn't been flirting with Gakuto at all! Oh wait. Another half-remembered sentence, this one from long before drifted to the fore of his mind.

"_Geez, Yuushi. You could flirt with a bleeding lamp post. You wouldn't even need to try, just be semi-concious and it comes naturally."_

Hmmm, perhaps he had been flirting with Gakuto, but in a playful "we're friends!" sort of way. Everyone flirted with their best friend. Where do you think the term "friends with benefits" had come from? Of course, he wasn't getting any benefits from Gakuto . . . but they weren't THAT sort of friend.

_-what kind of friends are you then?-_ a little voice in the back of his head named Charles asked.

What kind? What other kinds were there? Friends with benefits, friends who sometimes slept with each other, friends that would 'play' but not go 'there', f-

_-OH FOR THE LOVE OF- DOES ANYTHING IN YOUR BRAIN HAVE _NOT_ HAVE TO DO WITH SEX?-_

Yes! The Gakuto part! There were no benefits in his friendship with Gakuto. Surely that was at least a good sign, if he were truly as bad as the person who had said the half-remembered sentence from his past had thought, he wouldn't BE friends with the energetic ninja.

--------------------------------

Okay. So patrolling was just not his thing, it turned out. Gakuto hopped down from the tree he had been standing in, contemplating the sunrise. Okay, that was bullshit. He wasn't contemplating any sunrise. He was more thinking about how he was vaguely hungry and how he had discovered something very, very scary and girly.

No, he had not started his period. Which was a relief, seeing that he wasn't expecting that at all. Because he still had a penis.

The scary thing was...

He had a crush on Yuushi.

Gakuto began walking back towards camp, eyes glazed and stomach growly. Dammit, this was no time for an appetite! This was a time of utmost importance in Gakuto's young life, surely! Or not. Gakuto cursed lightly, rubbing at his temples. This was awful.

How the hell did this happen?

Yuushi was a jerk. He was a saucy, flirtatious bastard with a stupid smile and a stupider voice, always making dirty jokes and always... always being dirty in general! Sure, they were best friends- good friends, at least, and Gakuto wasn't a twitty girl who fell for any hot guy in his aquaintance. He had known Yuushi for years-

Shit, he was pacing. Gakuto cursed again, then again. Then again. For good measure.

What a realization to hit him, on a mission too! He had fallen out of a tree when the thought had actually hit him- the sinking realization that maybe, just maybe, there was a romantic reason for Yuushi being on his mind constantly. This was so not cool. This was actually probably the most uncool thing ever. Why should he like Yuushi? Gakuto snorted.

'You're skirting around the problem,' a snide voice said from some recess of his mind. 'You're more worried about why stupid, hot, flirty Yuushi would ever like you back. And really, why? You don't have jiggly things attatched to your chest. You just have scrawny legs and bony hips.'

"And great hair," Gakuto rebutted aloud, teeth gritted. He shook himself then, trying to clear his head. He had reached camp- some of the Seigaku ninja were already milling about- he probably looked real dumb, talking to himself. Whatever.

Then his breath stopped in his chest- there was Yuushi, coming out of his tent, all crazy hair and thoughtful face-

Gakuto turned around, breath fast.

There was a way to deal with problems like these.

Ignore them.

------------------------------------------

The red-head from Hyoutei was ignoring the blue-haired boy from said village. It was so obvious he had the hots for him.

The blue-haired boy was looking thoughtful and pensive. It was obvious he was thicker than the thousand-year old oak that stood near the Fujin clan house.

Both were distracted and if they were attacked would likely get themselves and anyone who tried to help them killed. This was a bad thing . . . unless Atobe tried to help, besides the point.

The obvious solution to this three-fold problem? MEDDLING.

Syuusuke smiled as he lifted his pack to his shoulders. If only all problems were so simple. He couldn't let them know he knew, of course. The crazy red-head would deny it and it wouldn't make a difference if the 'tensai' was as thick as the honey-haired boy presumed. It looked like it was time to show Hyoutei how a REAL tensai worked.

**MEDDLING**

**Mission: P.R.Y.**

**Mission Difficulty: 1**

**Phase One: P-ry . . .**

**Begin**

"AHHHH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" the red-head screeched in a startalingly accurate impression of a preteen girl.

"You seemed distracted," Syuusuke smiled, "We are in enemy territory, it is dangerous to not be on guard. You should know that, especially after last night. Is something the matter?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the boy hissed.

"Does it have something to do with the blue-haired boy?"

"His name is Yu- Oshitari. And NO it doesn't," the other boy turned his now red face away from the tensai's onslaught.

"I see. Yet you would not share a tent with him last night. Such a thing does not seem to be 'nothing' to me."

"Don't you have better things to be doing?" the red-head growled. What was the boy's name? Ah yes.

"Of course. I shall leave you to your ponderings, Mukahi," and with that he moved expertly to Tezuka's side. His plan would work. One, they always did, and two, this was so simple it was child's play for a genius like him.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are loved!


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